Quinoa, with its nutty, light flavor, adds a beautiful texture to melted chocolate, it turns out. Is it still healthy? Perhaps not, but its protein makes an unhealthy snack more filling, so I’ll take it.

It’s not necessary, but I made the quinoa into a brittle first, using butter, honey, and cayenne for a kick. I like my chocolate sweet, though, and this bark would be equally good with just the chocolate and the plain, cooked quinoa. I’ve also opted to fold in almonds and a bit of coconut to mine but you can leave that out.

This fresh and fulfilling quinoa salad is full of hearty nutrients that gives texture to this easy-to-make grain. It’s a beautiful and colorful dish that bursts with the flavors of sweet corn, cucumbers and a kick of dijon mustard, making this suffice as both a side dish, an entree or substantial summer lunch.

Quinoa is so versatile and works with alot of different flavors and ingredients. Whether for breakfast with eggs or for dinner along side a steak, quinoa has the power to stand next to any food.

My mother is always accusing me of being “not Italian enough”. When I was younger it was because I didn’t like marinara sauce, but lately it’s been due to the fact that I refuse to chomp on raw fennel with her after every meal. She recently discovered that in Italy, fennel is used as a palate cleanser in between courses, so now she and two of my aunts fight over who gets the honor of bringing the bulbs to holiday dinners. Then, when it seems like the main meal is just about to close, they chop that fennel up and just about attempt to force it down everyone’s throats.

This is generally where I try to make a run for it. Take over clearing-off-the-table duty, absent myself from the vicinity, etc. I just can’t handle the texture and flavor of raw fennel. It’s so, for lack of a better word, stalk-like.

Today I woke up to a chilly San Francisco morning, a gray day after a week of sun. The weather lately gives me a funny in-between feeling-some days feel like pure spring and some feel like we never left winter. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on Thursday, the sun was out and shining but a crisp cold wind was tossing up hair and hats, making bikers swerve on their paths and chopping up the waves underneath. Ahh, the bay.

When the new US Department of Health Dietary Guidelines were released last week, I started to think about how I eat. Although I think of myself as a healthy eater, in reality my diet had shifted over the months, to become less-vegetable focused, and high on sweets and refined carbohydrates.

Part of this is because I love to bake, and when the baked goods are around, I’m more likely to eat them. Also, now that my schedule is jam-packed, I might buy an unhealthy, and expensive lunch, instead of making my food ahead, which saves me money, and tends to be much healthier. Lastly, the winter weather has made me less likely to go to the greenmarket on Saturday mornings, and I have been buying less produce.

Though I wasn’t ready to make resolutions in January, reading the dietary guidelines has led me to make a few February goals: drink less, eat less, and what I eat and drink should be healthier. Now, I’m swapping tea for wine in the evening, and trying to get back on track with vegetables, fruit, and whole grains.

Swap white bread for whole-grain bread. Exchange your steak for beans, soda for water, and so on. This also means no refined white rice. Choose brown rice, quinoa, farro, freekeh, amaranth, or my personal favorite, Red Wehani Rice. In fact, there are actually a lot of options, it shouldn’t be difficult to adopt this new way of eating.

This week’s five-ingredient recipe takes its cues from the dietary guidelines: it’s half vegetables, half whole-grains and gets a punch of savory flavor from a crumble of spicy blue cheese. The cheese is the place to pay a few extra dollars, since it is a garnish. Before cooking the quinoa, you saute chopped onions in the saucepan, building a layer of flavor that infuses in the grains while they cook.

Beets are low-calorie, but their gorgeous magenta flesh contains vitamins B1, B2, and C; as well as fiber and antioxidants. Paired with low-calorie, high-protein quinoa, this dish is perfect for my new goal. As usual, I don’t count salt in the ingredients. And since lowering sodium-intake is in the dietary guidelines, use sparingly.

By Suzannah Schneider

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